FredSC

I just saw your query.  I certainly can't answer it, but I know that I share your issue.  I'm guessing that the "answer" may be what you are happy with.  Purists might say that every detail must be perfect, whether it can be seen or not.  I can't do that, but for now, I'm happy with the best that I can do.  Maybe with more experience, more help from others here, who knows....  But it is fun doing it, and that matters.

I just saw your query.  I certainly can't answer it, but I know that I share your issue.  I'm guessing that the "answer" may be what you are happy with.  Purists might say that every detail must be perfect, whether it can be seen or not.  I can't do that, but for now, I'm happy with the best that I can do.  Maybe with more experience, more help from others here, who knows....  But it is fun doing it, and that matters.

Maybe it's because I am so new and unskilled in this but I need very clear, step by step instructions in order to attempt to build anything. Those of you who can build the Queen Mary out of matchsticks won't understand this but for those of us with limited skills anything not explained or shown is a mystery that has to be solved. It's quite frustrating.
It would seem, especially for entry level kits, that instructions would be even more basic and explicit. I have a entry level piece and the instructions are clear but when they don't show what something should look like after a step is accomplished how does one know if it was done correctly? The few extra $ it might cost to make instructions more helpful seems a small price given the probability that the modeler, experiencing success, will build another model.
Jazzchip

1. Start by looking at all the kits I'd like to build
2. Eliminate all of those I can't afford, which is about 95% of those
3. Go back and add ones that MAYBE I could get if I stretch my budged a little (or a lot)
4. Look as which of those kits will be a nice step up in difficultly from previous builds.
5. Throw all caution and rationalizations aside and ignore steps 1-4 and go the one that just appeals to me most.
 
The final kit usually ends up being something unusual that not everyone else is building, is an actual, researchable historic vessel or small craft, and gives me an opportunity to learn about the ship, the technology, the period history or culture that often isn't commonly known, at least to me.
 
Then, like so many others, I usually put it in the closet with all the other kits I haven't had time to get to...
 
Clare

Alan,   I don't have a table saw and I'm not getting one.  Even so, there must be a half dozen morals to your story.  Thanks for sharing them and I hope you heal up fast. 
My Dremel Micro is about all the power I can handle. 
 
Fred

Alan,   I don't have a table saw and I'm not getting one.  Even so, there must be a half dozen morals to your story.  Thanks for sharing them and I hope you heal up fast. 
My Dremel Micro is about all the power I can handle. 
 
Fred

Alan,   I don't have a table saw and I'm not getting one.  Even so, there must be a half dozen morals to your story.  Thanks for sharing them and I hope you heal up fast. 
My Dremel Micro is about all the power I can handle. 
 
Fred

Alan,   I don't have a table saw and I'm not getting one.  Even so, there must be a half dozen morals to your story.  Thanks for sharing them and I hope you heal up fast. 
My Dremel Micro is about all the power I can handle. 
 
Fred

Reminds me of a group of old retired railroad workers I met in the 1960s as a little kid. They had each lost a finger or two over the course of their careers from coupling the cars together. No matter how careful you were, they would say, you'd eventually get a finger caught between the cars. They wore their stumps like metals, proud reminders of their hard earned careers. "Go to college, kid", they would all say.

"If a man speaks alone in the forest, and his wife is not around to hear him, is he still wrong?"

Regretfully, if the Brig Mermaid is any guide then the ship's boats will be plastic and the keel stem and stern posts ply needing to be "planked".
 
Rick 

I just saw your query.  I certainly can't answer it, but I know that I share your issue.  I'm guessing that the "answer" may be what you are happy with.  Purists might say that every detail must be perfect, whether it can be seen or not.  I can't do that, but for now, I'm happy with the best that I can do.  Maybe with more experience, more help from others here, who knows....  But it is fun doing it, and that matters.

Adam,    We all know that the only way to avoid mistakes, to say nothing of criticism, is to do nothing.  I think what you are doing is a great service to the model community and i, for one, appreciate it, expect to benefit from it and don't much care it it is not "perfect", whatever that means, since that is an entirely subjective term anyway.  Thanks for doing it.

I just saw your query.  I certainly can't answer it, but I know that I share your issue.  I'm guessing that the "answer" may be what you are happy with.  Purists might say that every detail must be perfect, whether it can be seen or not.  I can't do that, but for now, I'm happy with the best that I can do.  Maybe with more experience, more help from others here, who knows....  But it is fun doing it, and that matters.

I think a big concern should be consistency of detail rather than level of detail. If you are depicting the hinges on the gunport lids on one part of the model, something eight inches wide on the actual ship, you are now obliged to represent every other object on the ship that is eight inches or greater. In other words don't depict those gunport hinges if you don't intend to include the ironwork on the pumps. My trouble in my own models is in trying to adhere to the level of detail I decide to aim for when I begin the project, I always find myself adding detail later in the project that winds up being at a higher fidelity than details I had built earlier. In some cases this forces me to go back and tear out earlier parts of the build in order to match the new standard as I had raised the bar during the process.
Following this urge to depict great and greater detail leads inevitably to frustration, you will never be able to include every detail. Nor will 99% of us ever be able to achieve levels of detail as small or as precise as can be found on some superlative models built by craftsmen who's talents and abilities outstrip our own.
Also here is a conjectural rule of thumb I just invented: If it takes 100 hours to build something which includes all details which on the real ship would be 12" wide, multiply those 100 hours by 1.5 if one now wishes to depict all 6" wide components. If one wishes to include all components that are 3" wide, double the time you must allot for the project. I picked those numbers out of the air and they may be debated, but the point I am making is the time added to the overall project grows exponentially as you increase the detail. If one persists in more and more infinitesimal detail, the amount of time expands past any reasonable amount.
An argument for less detail is that most models will be viewed from across the room most often. Those hinges on the gunport lids will not be visible if the model is high up on a shelf. An educated eye scanning the model from up close will look to see if such hinges are included, but only one half of one percent of the people viewing the model will have that educated eye. But YOU are one of those one half of one percent and YOU have to decide if you can live without the hinges. The words " I could have included the gunport hinges but it would have taken too much time" are never going to taste good in your mouth.

Every time I start a piece I say a small pray for guidance from above:   Please Lord tell me "when"

Personally, I am trying to make the rigging of my build as real as possible.  Down to proper eyes, lashings and seizings.  Overkill....maybe.  Adding a lot of time to the build...definitely.  Proving to myself that I can do it and enjoying the ride...priceless

All good points. I think that the better you get, the more detail you can put into your model. One reason for this is because you are getting better and can do things quicker. If it takes you forever to do the basic stuff, it will take several forevers to make it detailed. Secondly, when you get better your quality improves. Crappy details don't improve crappy models (trust me on that one). However when you have a quality model, quality details improve it.
 
That having been said, there IS such thing as too much detail. I think scale dictates that. Sometimes you can overwhelm a model with too much detail. Personal preference. Take a step back and let the model tell you what is right.
 
Who is your audience? If you are doing if for just yourself, make it for you. If you are making it for the public to see, remember people will only look at it for a few minutes, then go away. Some will look for 30 seconds some for 10 minutes. Make your model so it appeals to all of them in its own way.
 
...and whatever level of detail you decide upon, make ONE thing significantly more detailed. People will focus on that, you will get your "Holy Cow!!!" and people will walk away with a feeling it is far more detailed than it really is, because of the one they fixated on.

I just saw your query.  I certainly can't answer it, but I know that I share your issue.  I'm guessing that the "answer" may be what you are happy with.  Purists might say that every detail must be perfect, whether it can be seen or not.  I can't do that, but for now, I'm happy with the best that I can do.  Maybe with more experience, more help from others here, who knows....  But it is fun doing it, and that matters.

I just saw your query.  I certainly can't answer it, but I know that I share your issue.  I'm guessing that the "answer" may be what you are happy with.  Purists might say that every detail must be perfect, whether it can be seen or not.  I can't do that, but for now, I'm happy with the best that I can do.  Maybe with more experience, more help from others here, who knows....  But it is fun doing it, and that matters.

Hi, Christine.  To each his (or her) own, and I'm sure some people have good results with nails.  I never have; the planks split; the nails won't go in; etc.  There are commercially available planking vises, or, as JM suggests, you could make your own.  After you have soaked the planks and bent them with an iron, a commercially available plank bender (sort of like a soldering iron with a round attachment on the end,  a tool that crimps the back side (that I have found works pretty well), or something else; after the planks are bent, gluing and clamping should do the job.  Good luck.

Hi, Christine.  To each his (or her) own, and I'm sure some people have good results with nails.  I never have; the planks split; the nails won't go in; etc.  There are commercially available planking vises, or, as JM suggests, you could make your own.  After you have soaked the planks and bent them with an iron, a commercially available plank bender (sort of like a soldering iron with a round attachment on the end,  a tool that crimps the back side (that I have found works pretty well), or something else; after the planks are bent, gluing and clamping should do the job.  Good luck.

To Kurt's philosophy I would also add the following:
 
He who dies with the most toys WINS!!!!!!!
 
My Chopper II works well on anything less than about 2mm in thickness. After that I find that the blade tends to flex and a square cut is difficult to achieve. This is when my little Proxxon KS 230 circular saw takes over. I have found the chopper to be most useful for repetitive jobs like cutting deck planking.

I've used the Chopper for some time now and it is handy for it's intended purpose. A self healing matt is used as the cutting base and it can be rotated or replaced over time. When cutting thicker stock, I usually rotate the piece and cut each side gradually rather than cutting through in one attempt. It is well put together and should last for some time --- mine has.......and my Sand-It gizmo is always nearby to square up any imperfect cuts.......
 
JP

An excellent plan, Kurt.  Hold fast and stay the course.